NASA Map Identifies 13 Potential Source Regions for Ancient Martian Meteorite Teghaza 001

A newly released global map of Mars highlights 13 locations that share the mineralogy and chemistry of Teghaza 001, one of the most ancient Martian meteorites ever found on Earth. The map, produced by NASA, marks each candidate region with a white circle and offers scientists a way to narrow down where the rock may have originated on the Red Planet. Scientists caution that they can never know for certain where any Martian meteorite came from, since no mission has yet returned a sample with a confirmed launch site. Even so, Teghaza 001 contains clues that link it to the highlands of Mars' southern hemisphere, giving researchers a geographic focus for the search. The base map was created using data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter instrument, which flew aboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor mission. That instrument provided detailed topographic measurements of the Martian surface, allowing researchers to place the candidate regions in their proper terrain context. To identify the 13 marked areas, scientists relied on data from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been surveying the planet's surface composition from orbit. By comparing the orbiter's mineralogical and chemical measurements with the properties of Teghaza 001, researchers pinpointed regions of the map with similar characteristics. Teghaza 001 is described by NASA as one of the most ancient Martian meteorites ever recovered on Earth. Meteorites like it are believed to have been blasted off the Martian surface by impacts, then traveled through space before landing on Earth, preserving a record of the planet's early history. The map was published by NASA on October 30, 2026, as part of its photojournal collection. The release underscores how combining orbital data from multiple missions can help trace individual meteorites back to plausible source regions, even without direct confirmation.